Jess....

Jess's assault sentencing hearing was yesterday and the guy got a year in prison. Jess and I both went, the guy was there with his girlfriend and mom. The girlfriend was crying. He was trying to get community control. His lawyer made a statement about him being sorry and did not want to make light of what had happened, but he has 5 children that depend on him. He then made a statement that he was sorry, had learned his lesson, etc. blah, blah. Jess had already filled out a victim's impact statement that was quite good, and they wanted to know what money was owed Jess for restitution, which was 1600.00, but instead of just that I made up a spreadsheet, that showed how much each bill was and what insurance paid, what the State of Ohio paid and what was left to pay. I wanted him to see the total bill was close to 40,000. The judge started talking about the seriousness of the injuries, his prior prison time in Tenn. for assault, and previous assault arrests, for 3 times in a month in 2001, that there was no way he could give him community control. The judge then said he would get 12 months in prison, 3 yrs of community control after that, 2500 fine, pay restitution and court costs.